Nancy Donaldson of Lower Burrell walks to the Michigan Avenue school bus stop with three children she cares for.
Lower Burrell resident Nancy Donaldson handles child care out of her Kenmont Avenue home. In the more than 25 years she has lived there, a school bus has picked up children at the end of her driveway.
The pickups of two 7-year-old boys she cares for in the mornings continued this school year -- until earlier this month.
According to Jim Croushore, transportation director for Burrell School District and principal of Bon Air Elementary School, the bus had been stopping in front of Donaldson's house -- which is on the other side of the Dollar General off Leechburg Road -- without it being an official bus stop.
The official bus stop is around the bend at Kenmont Avenue's intersection with Michigan Avenue, Croushore said. While that walk isn't far from her home, Donaldson said it's not safe.
She said a blind bend around Kenmont becomes even more hazardous when it's foggy and speeding vehicles are on the road. There are no sidewalks on Kenmont Avenue, and she is concerned about the soon-to-be icy conditions with winter approaching.
In addition to the two boys, she cares for two other children not yet in school who also make the trek with her to Michigan Avenue for bus pickup. The mother of one of those children is expecting a baby, who Donaldson also will care for.
"Come January, I refuse to walk a newborn up there," she said.
Once the bus picks up students at the Michigan and Kenmont intersection each morning, it turns onto Kenmont -- past Donaldson's house -- to get onto Leechburg Road for drop-off at Bon Air or Stewart elementary schools.
"I'm not asking for the bus to go out of its way," Donaldson said.
How routes are determined
Years ago, Donaldson said, the bus stop for children in that area was located at the Leechburg Road and Kenmont Avenue intersection, but a group of parents pushed to have it moved up Kenmont and away from heavier traffic.
By the time she moved to the neighborhood in 1998, the stop had been moved closer to Donaldson's house, and children had been picked up there since.
But Croushore said when he became the district's transportation director in 2017, the Kenmont and Leechburg stop was not an official stop.
"Michigan and Kenmont, off Leechburg Road, has always been the stop for that area," he said.
When the district considers bus stops, it tries to not have stops too close to each other and looks for intersections, which Croushore said is easier for parents and families to get to for pickup and drop-off.
He said Burrell, along with other area districts, uses the "Hazardous walking routes guidelines for bus stops" chapter in state code to establish routes and stops. Stops and routes only change if it's determined the stop, itself, or the walking route to get to the stop, is not safe, he said.
A walking route is considered hazardous if there have been two or more pedestrian accidents within the past three years; if it's necessary for a student to cross the road where traffic is not controlled by a traffic light or stop sign; or if it's necessary for students to cross a railroad crossing, according to state code.
Kenmont does not fall into any of those categories, Croushore said.
Although there are no sidewalks on Kenmont, the road is wider than 20 feet and has a speed limit of 20 mph. With that speed limit, an elementary-age student must be visible at 200 yards away, which they are, Croushore said.
Kenmont, as a walking route, does not meet any of the hazardous criteria set by the state guidelines. Therefore, the road is deemed safe, Croushore said.
Also, according to the state guidelines, when a road shoulder is less than 4 feet, normal vehicle traffic can't exceed 30 cars for the 15 minutes that students walk on the route to or from the bus stop. Kenmont's shoulder is less than 4 feet.
According to Croushore, traffic on Kenmont was monitored four mornings for 15 minutes each, and the number of cars counted was never higher than eight.
"When we evaluate bus stops, we use facts and data," Croushore said. "The guidelines the state of Pennsylvania gives us are what we follow."
Other stop is safer, parents say
Donaldson said a tragedy shouldn't have to occur before a bus stop is moved or added. In addition, younger children don't always understand road safety or road rules, she said.
"I don't feel I'm being unreasonable to do this," she said.
She's not alone in her neighborhood in questioning the route.
Jaysa Snyder, who has a son who Donaldson watches each morning, also is concerned about the safety and distance with the Michigan and Kenmont bus stop.
Snyder drops off her son at Donaldson's home each morning before she goes to work. The situation would be more dangerous if a child did not have an adult to walk them to the bus stop, she said.
She would like the bus stop to return to Donaldson's house.
"You can't even see the bus stop from the house," she said.
The mom of the other boy Donaldson walks to the bus, Christa Oswalt, also wants the bus stop to return in front of Donaldson's house.
"She's going around a blind bend with all these little kids, and it's scary," Oswalt said.
Oswalt said in the 14 years she has lived on Kenmont, there always have been two locations on the street where the bus has picked up children.
"We're not asking to change the bus stop for convenience," she said. "We're asking to reinstate the bus stop that was always there."
While she has three older children who have used the Michigan Avenue bus stop, she said, she is uncomfortable with an elementary-age child walking across Michigan Avenue to catch the bus because of speeding motorists.
"It is busy," she said. "People want to beat the (stoplight on Kenmont Avenue and Leechburg Road) all the time, so they come down Michigan and try to make it to the light."
Bill Benman, the bus driver for that route, said he wouldn't mind having Donaldson's stop reinstated but noted it is not his decision. He has been a bus driver for more than 30 years.
"The school's the one that makes the stop," he said.
Rick Mathews, who lives on Michigan Avenue and drops off his two children, ages 9 and 10, each morning at the Michigan and Kenmont stop, said he would have no problem moving the stop back to Donaldson's house.
Speeding on Michigan Avenue -- which he said is a shortcut from Leechburg to Tarentum Bridge roads -- is his concern.